Resource allocation for migration within a multi-tiered system

ABSTRACT

A method and system for intelligent tiering is provided. The method includes receiving a request for enabling a tiering process with respect to data. The computer processor retrieves a migration list indicating migration engines associated with the data. Additionally, an entity list of migration entities is retrieved and each migration entity is compared to associated policy conditions. In response, it is determined if matches exist between the migration entities and the associated policy conditions and a consolidated entity list is generated.

This application is a continuation application claiming priority to Ser.No. 15/003,875 filed Jan. 22, 2016 which is a continuation applicationclaiming priority to Ser. No. 14/818,729 filed Aug. 5, 2015 now U.S.Pat. No. 9,250,965 issued Feb. 2, 2016 which is a continuationapplication claiming priority to Ser. No. 13/590,292 filed Aug. 21, 2012now U.S. Pat. No. 9,122,527 issued Sep. 1, 2015.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and associated system forproving intelligent tiering in a multi-tier system.

BACKGROUND

Organizing data comprises an inaccurate process with little flexibility.An organizational method may include a complicated process that may betime consuming and require a large amount of resources. Accordingly,there exists a need in the art to overcome at least some of thedeficiencies and limitations described herein.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a method comprising: receiving, by acomputer processor of a computing system from a user, a request forenabling a tiering process with respect to data, wherein the requestcomprises policies that conditions to be satisfied for matching anentity to a policy of the policies; retrieving, by the computerprocessor in response to the request, a migration list indicatingmigration engines associated with the data; retrieving, by the computerprocessor in response to the migration list, an entity list of migrationentities associated with each migration engine of the migration engines;comparing, by the computer processor, each migration entity of themigration entities to associated policy conditions; determining, by thecomputer processor in response to results of the comparing, if matchesexist between the migration entities and the associated policyconditions; and generating, by the computer processor in response toresults of the determining, a consolidated entity list associated withthe entity list.

The present invention provides a computer program product, comprising acomputer readable storage device storing a computer readable programcode, the computer readable program code comprising an algorithm thatwhen executed by a computer processor of a computing system implements amethod, the method comprising: receiving, by the computer processor froma user, a request for enabling a tiering process with respect to data,wherein the request comprises policies that conditions to be satisfiedfor matching an entity to a policy of the policies; retrieving, by thecomputer processor in response to the request, a migration listindicating migration engines associated with the data; retrieving, bythe computer processor in response to the migration list, an entity listof migration entities associated with each migration engine of themigration engines; comparing, by the computer processor, each migrationentity of the migration entities to associated policy conditions;determining, by the computer processor in response to results of thecomparing, if matches exist between the migration entities and theassociated policy conditions; and generating, by the computer processorin response to results of the determining, a consolidated entity listassociated with the entity list.

The present invention provides a computing system comprising a computerprocessor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, the memory unitcomprising instructions that when executed by the computer processorimplements a method comprising: receiving, by the computer processorfrom a user, a request for enabling a tiering process with respect todata, wherein the request comprises policies that conditions to besatisfied for matching an entity to a policy of the policies;retrieving, by the computer processor in response to the request, amigration list indicating migration engines associated with the data;retrieving, by the computer processor in response to the migration list,an entity list of migration entities associated with each migrationengine of the migration engines; comparing, by the computer processor,each migration entity of the migration entities to associated policyconditions; determining, by the computer processor in response toresults of the comparing, if matches exist between the migrationentities and the associated policy conditions; and generating, by thecomputer processor in response to results of the determining, aconsolidated entity list associated with the entity list.

The present invention advantageously provides a simple method andassociated system capable of organizing data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing intelligent tiering formigration services in a heterogeneous multi-tier system, in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates a first migration candidate scenario implemented bythe system of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a second migration candidate scenario implemented bythe system of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2C illustrates a third migration candidate scenario implemented bythe system of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2D illustrates a fourth migration candidate scenario implemented bythe system of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2E illustrates a unified migration model generated by the migrationcandidate scenarios of FIGS. 2A-2D, in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an algorithm detailing a process flow enabled by thesystem of FIG. 1 for performing an independent candidate selectionprocess, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an algorithm detailing a process flow enabled by thesystem of FIG. 1 for modeling migrations, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an algorithm detailing a process flow enabled by thesystem of FIG. 1 for performing a global optimization, in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer apparatus used by the system of FIG. 1 forproviding intelligent tiering for migration services in a heterogeneousmulti-tier system, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for providing intelligent tiering formigration services in a heterogeneous multi-tier system, in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention. System 100 enables candidatemigration to be modeled and evaluated using a cost/utility model todetermine a tradeoff between different migration candidates. A unifiedcost/utility based evaluation process evaluates tradeoff judgmentsbetween migration candidates at different layers/granularities. System100 enables tiering decisions that evaluate a load balancing processacross different migration drivers.

System 100 illustrates an enterprise end-to-end stack system. System 100comprises a hypervisor 106 a, a hypervisor 106 b, and a file system 108.Hypervisor 106 a comprises a set of files in a VMFS file system 3residing in a data store 10. Data store 10 is comprised by a logicalvolume system 2 retrieved from a VC (i.e., external storage such asVdisk 20). Vdisk 20 is mapped to multiple physical disks (MDisk 11,MDisk 12, MDisk 15, and MDisk 16) associated with different storagecontrollers. Mdisk 3 is mapped to multiple physical disks (MDisk 1 andMDisk 14) associated with different storage controllers. TSM 5 and TSM 9comprise a file level migration engine for mapping to name server daemon(NSD) 20 and NSD 5 associated with a domain name system. Hypervisor 106b comprises a set of files 3 and 9 in a VMFS file system 12 residing ina data store 17 (e.g., comprising a NFS mount point 18 residing on NASsolutions (e.g., file system 108). File system 108 maps to NSD 20 andNSD 5. File system 108 comprises a scaled out network attached storage(SONAS) system 136 including SONAS modules 1, 4, and 5. Migrationcontrollers 125 a and 125 b may act independently of each other.Migration engines 133 a . . . 133 e comprise engine for providing theintelligent tiering for migration services in a heterogeneous multi-tiersystem.

FIG. 2A illustrates a first migration candidate scenario implemented bysystem 100 of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The first migration candidate scenario of FIG. 2A enables atransfer process for transferring file 6 and file 11 on VMFS 3 to VMFS12 using a file level tool 130.

FIG. 2B illustrates a second migration candidate scenario implemented bysystem 100 of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The second migration candidate scenario of FIG. 2B enables atransfer process for transferring VMFS 3 file system into a differentdata store 17 using a hypervisor level tool 135.

FIG. 2C illustrates a third migration candidate scenario implemented bysystem 100 of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The third migration candidate scenario of FIG. 2C enables atransfer process for transferring file 6 and file 11 on VMFS 3 withinitself by transferring storage at a SONAS layer 136.

FIG. 2D illustrates a fourth migration candidate scenario implemented bysystem 100 of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The fourth migration candidate scenario of FIG. 2D enables atransfer process for transferring of Data store VDisk 20 using SVCcapabilities.

FIG. 2E illustrates a unified migration model 205 generated by themigration candidate scenarios of FIGS. 2A-2D, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. Each migration is identified by acandidate that is a target of an associated migration. Each candidatemay comprise any granularity level such as, inter alia, file, filesystem, data store, volume, block(s), etc. Each migration affects aspecified subset of components in an end-to-end stack (e.g., affectedresources in a current model). Additionally, each migration comprises adestination that may include a file system, data store, or a volume. Theunified migration model 205 captures a utility of a data item as acurrent resident cost computed as a universal metric such as, interalia, a cost per GB per day. Additionally, the unified migration model205 captures an expected resident cost and a transition cost is modeledas a function of components involved in a migration.

Unified migration model 205 formulates a problem as a multi objectiveoptimization problem comprising:

An Objective:

Optimizing storage cost/right tier data.

Load balance migrations to avoid overloading migration enginesconstraints.

Constraints:

Minimize overall incorrectly tiered data inputs.

Inputs:

Tiering definitions:

-   -   Classification criteria for data.    -   Usage/resident cost for tiers.    -   Controllers, layers, migration engines.

Outputs:

Prioritized list of migrations.

Expected tier utilizations.

Unified migration model 205 represents all migration candidates as aninterconnected graph. Each migration represents a path from a source toa destination. A cost of edges represents the transitional costs fromnode to node (i.e., nodes 70, 71, 72, 73, etc.). A path cost representsan overall transitional cost of migration. Identifying paths thatintersect generates an estimation of potentially conflicting migrations.

FIG. 3 illustrates an algorithm detailing a process flow enabled bysystem 100 of FIG. 1 for performing an independent candidate selectionprocess, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Instep 300, a computer processor (e.g., of system 100 of FIG. 1) receivesa user specified request for tiering. The user specified request may beexpressed in a form of policies. Each policy may include an associatedset of conditions to be satisfied if an entity may match a policy. Anentity includes, inter alia, files, a virtual machine, a file system, avirtualized/physical storage volume, a set of blocks, etc. In step 302,a list of migration engines (within an end-to-end stack) is retrieved.For example, an end-to-end stack may include, inter alia, a file levelmigration engine (e.g., TSM/HSM, etc), a file system level migrationengine (VMWare Storage, VMotion, etc), an NAS file set/file levelmigration engine, a volume level migration engine (SVC or subsystems),etc. In step 304, a loop thru each available migration engine isinitiated. In step 308, (for each migration engine) a list comprisingall managed entities is retrieved. For example, if a migration enginecomprises a TSM, the list of managed entities may include filescurrently being managed by a TSM. In step 310, a loop thru each of theentities in the retrieved list (from step 308) is initiated. In step312, it is determined if an entity matches policy conditions. Forexample, an entity file foo.txt (a migration engine TSM) is compared toa policy stating that data that has not been accessed in 60 days shouldbe transferred from higher classes of storage to tier 3 lower coststorage. In this example, step 312 will determine if foo.txt has beenaccessed in the last 60 days. If in step 312, it is determined that anentity matches policy conditions then the entity is added to a candidatelist and step 310 is repeated for each migration entity. If in step 312,it is determined that an entity does not match policy conditions thenstep 304 is repeated. In step 318, (i.e., when all entities have beentested) a consolidated list of candidate entities is generated and anoptional cleanup step is applied to remove duplicate entities.

FIG. 4 illustrates an algorithm detailing a process flow enabled bysystem 100 of FIG. 1 for modeling migrations, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. In step 400, the consolidated listof candidate entities (generated in step 318 of the algorithm of FIG. 3)is inputted. The consolidated list may include files, virtual machines,file systems, file sets, volumes, block sets, etc. In step 402, a loopthru each of the candidates is initiated. In step 404, (for eachcandidate entity) a possible target location is determined. For example,if an entity comprises a file, then an appropriate path to relocate filemay be located. For example, a file (Foo.txt) may need to be moved to aTier 3 memory device and therefore Foo.txt may be moved from drive C:\to drive E:\ (i.e., assuming drive E:\ is Tier 3 memory device). In step406, (for a source-target pair migration candidate) migration resourceusage is estimated. For example, migrations require CPU, network, anddisk resources. In step 408, a cost change for a migration candidate isestimated. For example, moving a file (Foo.txt) from a Tier 1 memorydevice to a Tier 3 memory device may move X GBs of data. A Tier memorydevice may include a cost of X/GB and a Tier 3 memory device may includea cost of Y/GB. Therefore, a cost change comprises a file size of(Foo.txt)*X−a file size of (Foo.txt)*Y. In step 410 a list of migrationcandidates is generated. Each candidate may comprise a source, target,type, resource estimate, and cost change estimate.

FIG. 5 illustrates an algorithm detailing a process flow enabled bysystem 100 of FIG. 1 for performing a global optimization, in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention. In step 500, the list ofmigration candidates (generated in step 410 of the algorithm of FIG. 4)is inputted. In step 502, a migration set is generated from the list ofmigration candidates. The migration set comprises a collection ofmigration candidates. The migration set may be generated as a randomselection. For example, 90% of the candidates may be selected randomlyfrom the list of migration candidates. In step 504, a loop thru aselected migration set is initiated. In 506, (for each migrationcandidate) a dependency list is generated. A dependency list comprises alist of all nodes connected/related to a source migration entity in andend-to-end system graph. For example, if a source migration entitycomprises foo.txt, then all entities below foo.txt in the hierarchy(until a storage/disk layer) may be comprised by the dependency list:foo.txt->c:\\->vdisk10->storage volumeZ->disk 1. Therefore, a dependencylist may include a collection of nodes within an upstream and downstreampath of a source migration entity within an end-to-end system graph. Instep 508, it is determined if any nodes within the dependency listalready exist within a global dependency list. If intersections/overlaps(of the nodes) exist, then a potential conflict is indicated. If in step508, it is determined that nodes within the dependency list do notalready exist within a global dependency list, then in step 510 thedependency list is added to the global list and step 504 is repeated. Ifin step 508, it is determined that nodes within the dependency list doalready exist within the global dependency list, then in step 512 themigration candidate is selected and a tradeoff between a new candidateand conflicting candidates is examined. For example, an estimate of costchange metric may be used. In step 514 an estimate of total resourceusage for the migration set is calculated. In step 516 an estimate oftotal cost changes for the migration set is calculated. In step 518, itis determined if the migration set is optimal. If in step 518, it isdetermined that the migration set is not optimal then step 502 isrepeated. If in step 518, it is determined that the migration set isoptimal then in step 520, a final migration set is generated. The finalmigration set may include a list of migration candidates and associatedtotal estimated resource usage and total estimated cost changes.

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer apparatus 90 used by system 100 of FIG. 1for providing intelligent tiering for migration services in aheterogeneous multi-tier system, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. The computer system 90 comprises a processor 91, aninput device 92 coupled to the processor 91, an output device 93 coupledto the processor 91, and memory devices 94 and 95 each coupled to theprocessor 91. The input device 92 may be, inter alia, a keyboard, amouse, etc. The output device 93 may be, inter alia, a printer, aplotter, a computer screen, a magnetic tape, a removable hard disk, afloppy disk, etc. The memory devices 94 and 95 may be, inter alia, ahard disk, a floppy disk, a magnetic tape, an optical storage such as acompact disc (CD) or a digital video disc (DVD), a dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory device 95includes a computer code 97. The computer code 97 includes algorithms(e.g., the algorithms of FIGS. 3-5) for providing intelligent tieringfor migration services in a heterogeneous multi-tier system. Theprocessor 91 executes the computer code 97. The memory device 94includes input data 96. The input data 96 includes input required by thecomputer code 97. The output device 93 displays output from the computercode 97. Either or both memory devices 94 and 95 (or one or moreadditional memory devices not shown in FIG. 6) may comprise thealgorithms of FIGS. 3-5 and may be used as a computer usable medium (ora computer readable medium or a program storage device) having acomputer readable program code embodied therein and/or having other datastored therein, wherein the computer readable program code comprises thecomputer code 97. Generally, a computer program product (or,alternatively, an article of manufacture) of the computer system 90 maycomprise the computer usable medium (or said program storage device).

Still yet, any of the components of the present invention could becreated, integrated, hosted, maintained, deployed, managed, serviced,etc. by a service supplier who offers to provide intelligent tiering formigration services in a heterogeneous multi-tier system. Thus thepresent invention discloses a process for deploying, creating,integrating, hosting, maintaining, and/or integrating computinginfrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into thecomputer system 90, wherein the code in combination with the computersystem 90 is capable of performing a method for providing intelligenttiering for migration services in a heterogeneous multi-tier system. Inanother embodiment, the invention provides a business method thatperforms the process steps of the invention on a subscription,advertising, and/or fee basis. That is, a service supplier, such as aSolution Integrator, could offer to provide intelligent tiering formigration services in a heterogeneous multi-tier system. In this case,the service supplier can create, maintain, support, etc. a computerinfrastructure that performs the process steps of the invention for oneor more customers. In return, the service supplier can receive paymentfrom the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/orthe service supplier can receive payment from the sale of advertisingcontent to one or more third parties.

While FIG. 6 shows the computer system 90 as a particular configurationof hardware and software, any configuration of hardware and software, aswould be known to a person of ordinary skill in the art, may be utilizedfor the purposes stated supra in conjunction with the particularcomputer system 90 of FIG. 6. For example, the memory devices 94 and 95may be portions of a single memory device rather than separate memorydevices.

While embodiments of the present invention have been described hereinfor purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claimsare intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of this invention.

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computer processor of acomputing system from a user, a request for enabling a tiering processwith respect to data, wherein said request comprises policies includingconditions to be satisfied for matching an entity to a policy of saidpolicies, and wherein said tiering process is associated with aclassification of criteria for said data and a usage and resident costfor associated tiers; retrieving, by said computer processor in responseto said request, a migration list indicating migration enginesassociated with said data, wherein said migration engines compriselogical volume level migration engines, and wherein each of saidmigration engines is responsible for one level of said data;determining, by said computer processor in response to results ofcomparing each migration entity of migration entities to associatedpolicy conditions, if cost and utility based matches exist between saidmigration entities and said associated policy conditions, wherein saidmatch is defined by said data and has not been accessed during aspecified time period; first estimating, by said computer processor,resource usage associated with said migration of said entities of saidconsolidated entity list, wherein said resource usage is associated withCPU resources, network resources, and disk resources; second estimating,by said computer processor in response to results of said entity datathat has not been accessed during a specified time period, a cost changeassociated with said migration of said entities of said consolidatedentity list, wherein said migration comprises moving said first filefrom a Tier 1 memory device to a Tier 3 memory device, wherein saidfirst file comprises X GBs of data, wherein said Tier 1 memory device isassociated with a cost of X/gigabyte (GB) and said Tier 3 memory deviceis associated with a cost of Y/GB, wherein said cost change equals afile size of (the first file)*X−a file size of (the first file)*Y;generating, by said computer processor in response to results of: saidanalyzing; said determining said target location; said first estimating;and said second estimating, a candidate migration list comprisingmigration candidates from said consolidated entity list, wherein eachcandidate of said migration candidates is associated with a specifiedgranularity level comprising a file system, a logical volume mapped tophysical disks, and a block; generating, by said computer processor, adependency list for each migration candidate of a subset of migrationcandidates of said candidate migration list, wherein each saiddependency list comprises a list of nodes connected to each migrationcandidate of said subset of migration candidates in an end-to-end systemgraph, and wherein said nodes include a collection of nodes within anupstream and downstream path of a source migration entity of saidconsolidated entity list within said end-to-end system graph; anddetermining, by said computer processor, that a group of nodes of saidnodes exist within a global dependency list.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: removing, by said computer processor, duplicateentities of said migration entities, wherein said consolidated entitylist does not comprise said duplicate entities.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein entities of said consolidated entity list comprises files,virtual machines, file systems, file sets, volumes, and block sets.
 4. Acomputer program product, comprising a computer readable hardwarestorage device storing a computer readable program code, said computerreadable program code comprising an algorithm that when executed by acomputer processor of a computing system implements a method, saidmethod comprising: receiving, by said computer processor from a user, arequest for enabling a tiering process with respect to data, whereinsaid request comprises policies including conditions to be satisfied formatching an entity to a policy of said policies, and wherein saidtiering process is associated with a classification of criteria for saiddata and a usage and resident cost for associated tiers; retrieving, bysaid computer processor in response to said request, a migration listindicating migration engines associated with said data, wherein saidmigration engines comprise logical volume level migration engines, andwherein each of said migration engines is responsible for one level ofsaid data; determining, by said computer processor in response toresults of comparing each migration entity of migration entities toassociated policy conditions, if cost and utility based matches existbetween said migration entities and said associated policy conditions,wherein said match is defined by said data and has not been accessedduring a specified time period; first estimating, by said computerprocessor, resource usage associated with said migration of saidentities of said consolidated entity list, wherein said resource usageis associated with CPU resources, network resources, and disk resources;second estimating, by said computer processor in response to results ofsaid entity data that has not been accessed during a specified timeperiod, a cost change associated with said migration of said entities ofsaid consolidated entity list, wherein said migration comprises movingsaid first file from a Tier 1 memory device to a Tier 3 memory device,wherein said first file comprises X GBs of data, wherein said Tier 1memory device is associated with a cost of X/gigabyte (GB) and said Tier3 memory device is associated with a cost of Y/GB, wherein said costchange equals a file size of (the first file)*X−a file size of (thefirst file)*Y; generating, by said computer processor in response toresults of: said analyzing; said determining said target location; saidfirst estimating; and said second estimating, a candidate migration listcomprising migration candidates from said consolidated entity list,wherein each candidate of said migration candidates is associated with aspecified granularity level comprising a file system, a logical volumemapped to physical disks, and a block; generating, by said computerprocessor, a dependency list for each migration candidate of a subset ofmigration candidates of said candidate migration list, wherein each saiddependency list comprises a list of nodes connected to each migrationcandidate of said subset of migration candidates in an end-to-end systemgraph, and wherein said nodes include a collection of nodes within anupstream and downstream path of a source migration entity of saidconsolidated entity list within said end-to-end system graph; anddetermining, by said computer processor, that a group of nodes of saidnodes exist within a global dependency list.
 5. The computer programproduct of claim 4, wherein said method further comprises: removing, bysaid computer processor, duplicate entities of said migration entities,wherein said consolidated entity list does not comprise said duplicateentities.
 6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein entitiesof said consolidated entity list comprises files, virtual machines, filesystems, file sets, volumes, and block sets.
 7. A computing systemcomprising a computer processor coupled to a computer-readable memoryunit, said memory unit comprising instructions that when executed by thecomputer processor implements a method comprising: receiving, by saidcomputer processor from a user, a request for enabling a tiering processwith respect to data, wherein said request comprises policies includingconditions to be satisfied for matching an entity to a policy of saidpolicies, and wherein said tiering process is associated with aclassification of criteria for said data and a usage and resident costfor associated tiers; retrieving, by said computer processor in responseto said request, a migration list indicating migration enginesassociated with said data, wherein said migration engines compriselogical volume level migration engines, and wherein each of saidmigration engines is responsible for one level of said data;determining, by said computer processor in response to results ofcomparing each migration entity of migration entities to associatedpolicy conditions, if cost and utility based matches exist between saidmigration entities and said associated policy conditions, wherein saidmatch is defined by said data and has not been accessed during aspecified time period; first estimating, by said computer processor,resource usage associated with said migration of said entities of saidconsolidated entity list, wherein said resource usage is associated withCPU resources, network resources, and disk resources; second estimating,by said computer processor in response to results of said entity datathat has not been accessed during a specified time period, a cost changeassociated with said migration of said entities of said consolidatedentity list, wherein said migration comprises moving said first filefrom a Tier 1 memory device to a Tier 3 memory device, wherein saidfirst file comprises X GBs of data, wherein said Tier 1 memory device isassociated with a cost of X/gigabyte (GB) and said Tier 3 memory deviceis associated with a cost of Y/GB, wherein said cost change equals afile size of (the first file)*X−a file size of (the first file)*Y;generating, by said computer processor in response to results of: saidanalyzing; said determining said target location; said first estimating;and said second estimating, a candidate migration list comprisingmigration candidates from said consolidated entity list, wherein eachcandidate of said migration candidates is associated with a specifiedgranularity level comprising a file system, a logical volume mapped tophysical disks, and a block; generating, by said computer processor, adependency list for each migration candidate of a subset of migrationcandidates of said candidate migration list, wherein each saiddependency list comprises a list of nodes connected to each migrationcandidate of said subset of migration candidates in an end-to-end systemgraph, and wherein said nodes include a collection of nodes within anupstream and downstream path of a source migration entity of saidconsolidated entity list within said end-to-end system graph; anddetermining, by said computer processor, that a group of nodes of saidnodes exist within a global dependency list.
 8. The computing system ofclaim 7, wherein said method further comprises: removing, by saidcomputer processor, duplicate entities of said migration entities,wherein said consolidated entity list does not comprise said duplicateentities.
 9. The computing system of claim 7, wherein entities of saidconsolidated entity list comprises files, virtual machines, filesystems, file sets, volumes, and block sets.